Pininfarina Tensei Revives The Original Honda NSX For 2026

Most people remember the NSX as a homegrown Honda hero, shaped by Masahito Nakano, Shigeru Uehara, and a company determined to beat Ferrari at its own game. But the story started earlier and in a different country. Before the production car, there was the 1984 HP-X—an Italian sketch by Pininfarina that quietly planted the seed for what the NSX would become.

Turns out, Pininfarina never really let that sketch go.

Forty years later, the studio has teamed up with JAS Motorsport to give the original NSX a new life—one that goes by the name Tensei, which translates loosely to “rebirth.” A few lucky folks saw it behind closed doors at Fuji Raceway in November. Now the rest of us get to hear about it.

Technical info is still under wraps, but the shape already says plenty. You don’t need to squint to see the NSX framework. The Tensei sits lower. Wider. Cleaner. It’s the kind of design that doesn’t need to prove itself—Italian studios do it effortlessly while everyone else makes Photoshop gradients and faux vents.

The body is pure carbon fiber, stretched over a stance that looks much meaner than the 1990 original. JAS has been building Honda race cars for ages, so the hardware underneath won’t be a gentle nod to the past. Think more “serious track knowledge” than “cute restomod.” A naturally aspirated V6 and a manual are both in play, though no one’s ready to say how wild the redline might get.

The full reveal is set for early 2026, followed by a tiny production run in Milan.

And if the NSX throwbacks weren’t already piling up this year, Italdesign is now teasing its own version. All they showed is a single glowing light bar in the dark, but it’s enough to make one thing clear: two major Italian studios are now, without meaning to, competing to reinvent Japan’s most iconic ’90s supercar. Should make 2026 a fun year to be an NSX fan.